The Rolling Stones announced on Tuesday the release of a 50th anniversary greatest hits album amid rumours of a forthcoming series of live concerts. The 50-track album, called GRRR!, will be released worldwide on November 12. It will include two new tracks - One Last Shot and Gloom and Doom - recorded by the group in a Paris studio in August. - AFP
Lebanese band cancels Chili Peppers gig
The Lebanese indie band Mashrou' Leila have announced they will no longer be the supporting act for the Red Hot Chili Peppers tonight in Beirut. The decision follows mounting pressure from the Palestinian movement Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) after the Red Hot Chili Peppers rejected calls to cancel their show in Tel Aviv next week. The US rockers are due to perform on September 10 at Hayarkon Park, which many have noted is the site of the former Palestinian village of Jarisha. - Alex Ritman
Kal Penn cracks jokes at DNC speech
Kal Penn, of Harold and Kumar and House fame, brought down the latter at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday with a good-humoured speech. "I am honoured to accept your nomination for president," he opened. "Wait, this is not my speech." Penn also made the night's first Clint Eastwood joke, saying: "Thank you, invisible man in the chair," referring to Eastwood's skit at the Republican convention last week. Penn, who has volunteered for Obama since 2007, asked for continuing voter engagement, particularly from the youth and online. "I ask all of you young people to join me," he said. "You don't even have to put pants on." - AP
Price is Right omits Barker on special
Bob Barker hosted The Price is Right for 35 years but wasn't invited to participate in the game show's 40th anniversary on Tuesday. The 88-year-old says the show's producers "chose to ignore me, which is fine". The special episode of TV's longest-running game show featured returning contestants from the past four decades. Barker is shown in several clips but was not invited to appear on the programme. "You would think you'd have the fellow who did the show for 35 years there. They haven't even offered me a DVD," Barker said. - AP
Michael does gig for Vienna workers
As part of his latest concert tour, George Michael played tribute to the Austrian doctors and nurses who helped him fight life-threatening pneumonia last year. He posted on Twitter on Tuesday: "Hey everyone, it's that time again! And I get to open the tour singing to the men and women who saved my life." Austrian media say 300 medical personnel from the hospital where Michael was treated attended the concert on Tuesday night. Michael was in the middle of his Symphonica tour when he fell ill in Vienna in November last year. - AP
John Mayer silenced by surgery
After undergoing throat surgery last week, John Mayer has been advised by doctors to take a break from singing. The 34-year-old musician posted on his blog: "Well, here I am. Silent for the next few months, no singing for probably six, but all signs point to this being the last step in getting to perform again. Back to notebooks and iPad to communicate for the time being. Zen living at its finest."
